Deliver Us to Evil
by Nova trinity
Summary: The sequal to Evil Shadows, Gaara and Naruto now head to Massachusetts to help Ino and Sakura who have bought a house that is haunted with a demonic energy. Their is some occoult themes in this story along with yaoi and yuri.
1. Bad Timing

_**I do not own the Naruto universe, I just like to borrow the characters for my own morbid satisfaction, I hope this is good enough for you all. This story is dedicated to Slipknotgirl14 for the wonderful title she threw at me after my quandary of not being able to think of one! Thank you Slipknotgirl14!**_

_**Deliver Us to Evil**_

_**Prologue**_

_**Bad timing…**_

_All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream- Edgar Allan Poe-_

_Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.-Edgar Allan Poe-_

_June 1,2007 1:30a.m._

The house was silent now, the only sounds came from the bathroom as the girl was soaking in the tub. Softly she laughed, she seemed so sweet and kind, on closer look though you could see it in her eyes, the emptiness and the cruelty. Her life had been a pampered one, where she was well loved by her family, so no one could blame her up bringing for the crimes that she had just committed. No, her parents had indulged her every whim, if she wanted something, all she had to do was ask for it and they would get it for her. Lifting her arm, she lazily ran her hand over it, smearing the blood over the smooth surface.

A hand reached down towards her face to cup her chin and kiss her on the lips, opening her eyes, she looked up at her boyfriend and smiled demurely. He never knew what happened to him as she took the slender knife and quickly slit his throat. His eyes widened and he involuntarily tightened his hand, nearly crushing her throat as his blood spilled out of his neck, showering her in the rich thick liquid. She had cut his throat deep enough to cause him to not be able to speak and all she could hear was the beautiful sound of gurgling from him as he started to panic.

"Poor baby…" she softly murmured as she absently licked the blood that was on her mouth. It tasted good, and the blood mixed in with the other blood that was in the tub, and before he died, she leaned up and covered his throat with her mouth and greedily drank the blood that was still coming out of his neck.

She watched his face as she drank his life into her, and at the moment of his death, she could feel the thrill of it all. As he was about to die, she lifted the knife once more and on his forehead, just like all the others, she carved the symbol that she was using to claim his soul.

That death made a nice two dozen in less than twenty four hours.

_June 1,2007 2:10a.m._

Gai woke up to get some water, he had another nightmare that he couldn't quite place. Glancing in the bed next to him he sighed, it was still empty. Putting his slippers on, he padded down to the kitchen and got some ice water. Standing next to the stainless steel fridge, Gai took a long swallow from the icy water. Glancing out the window, he noticed that every light was on in the boarding house next door.

"That's strange…" he mumbled to himself. Here he was, standing in his dark kitchen drinking water at two in the morning and next door every light was on.

Getting closer to the window, he scrutinized all the windows. No movement was noticed.

As he stood there looking at the windows, a image appeared in the second floor, a lone young woman. She was ethereal with her beauty, her hair was damp, and hung down from her to her waist… she looked like a angel. Gai wanted to know why she was painted red though, it looked like she had doused herself in red paint.

The more he gazed at her, the more he realized that she was not a angel, a fear started to take hold of him and he was not sure why.

As if she could see him as well, she looked directly at him. It was just his imagination, no way could she see into his home when his lights were out and she was bathed in light. That thought though was no consolation, and slowly he backed away from the window.

Something was not right, he could feel it in the pit of his stomach. A gnawing fear that she was going to kill him took hold. Shaking his head, he double checked to make sure the house was locked tight. Once he was sure that he was indeed locked safely inside his house, he made his way back upstairs to his room. He was at the top of the stairs when he heard the back door glass break. This couldn't be happening, he tried to calm his racing heart beat as he went into his room, locking the door as he went. Taking a deep breath, he leaned against the door before quietly going towards his bed where his cell phone was.

**Present Day…**

Naruto tossed the Frisbee to Kankuro, things were more than a little quiet lately, in the past seven months that the three siblings had lived with Naruto and his other friends, only a handful of cases had come in. And those had been run of the mill atypical cases. Nothing more than a little cleansing would take care of them. Naruto didn't know what to expect at first, yet he had thought it would be more exciting than it was.

"Pay attention when I throw the Frisbee at you." Kankuro yelled, a tad bit frustrated at the slow going of the paranormal also.

"Sorry." Naruto mumbled.

Suigetsu laughed as he fell on the grass in front of the large house that was now peaceful thanks in part to Gaara. "I think Naruto is just going stir crazy. He is not used to staying in one place this long with nothing to do."

"Are you getting cabin fever in the spring Naruto?" Sasuke teased as he joined his boyfriend on the grass to watch Naruto toss the Frisbee back and forth with Kankuro.

"Just don't do what the guy in the Shining did." Kankuro laughed also, "Didn't that happen somewhere here in Colorado?"

"It was just a book…" Naruto grumbled good naturedly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Stephen King wrote it…" Suigetsu said.

"It was based on fact though." Sasuke said all serious.

"No way!" Suigetsu shuddered and slid closer to Sasuke.

"Stop bull shittin us." Naruto tossed the Frisbee directly at the duck headed guy.

"I am not shitting you." Sasuke said.

His tone was deathly calm, and the look on his face said to trust him.

"You lie!" Naruto said, even though he said it, he was not too sure how true it was what he said. A small part in his brain said that Sasuke was in fact telling the truth.

That was when Sasuke laughed and threw the Frisbee back to the thunderstruck Naruto. "It is so fun to get you Naruto!"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, he was used to the way Sasuke teased, even Suigetsu was used to it, yet they both still believed him.

Suigetsu playfully smacked Sasuke in the arm and said, "You know about the boy that cried wolf. When the wolf really showed up, no one believed him. And all the animals were slaughtered, is that what you want? For Naruto and I to be slaughtered like lambs?"

"You two are far from lambs." Kankuro laughed. "More like horses…"

"Gaara will protect me." Naruto said confidently.

"From what?" Gaara had just shown up from inside the house.

"From Suigetsu's wolves." Kankuro chuckled.

"You have wolves?" Gaara believed it.

Naruto put his arm around Gaara, "No, unless you count Sasuke."

Sasuke laughed good naturedly and said, "Yeah, however I think I will just devour Suigetsu." with that he picked up the one in question and proceeded to take a squealing Suigetsu back into the house to have some privacy.

Naruto sat down on the grass also and urged Gaara to sit next to him, Kankuro mysteriously vanished as well. Naruto had been contemplating how to let Gaara know just how much he wanted to develop more than just the close friendship that they shared for the past two months. To begin with it was fine, to just be friends, however as time wore on Naruto began to want more, to want to be intimate and affectionate with the red head. To want to drag the red head away like Sasuke often did with Suigetsu and even Shikamaru was starting to do with Temari. Maybe Gaara didn't even feel the same, he just had to find out. And this was his opportunity to do just that.

"Gaara," Naruto began once the red head was sitting next to him, "What do you think of Sasuke and Suigetsu's relationship?"

Gaara looked at the blond and raised his eye questioningly, "What do you mean?"

"Do you think that they should not be together because of them being the same sex?"

Gaara didn't know exactly what to say, he was momentarily confused, "They love each other that's all that counts. Are you wanting them to break up?"

Softly, Naruto nervously laughed, "No, I love that they are happy together. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't mind that they were together." Naruto looked away as he continued, "Some people find it wrong…"

"Love knows no bounds." Gaara said softly, he wanted to lean over and kiss Naruto, something said for him to do it, however Gaara ignored it and just watched as Naruto struggled with what it was he was wanting to say.

Without blinking, Naruto turned toward Gaara, nearly got in his lap, and hurriedly said, "I think I like you that way. So if you hate me now, I don't blame you, I am sorry though."

Each word echoed over and over in Gaara's startled brain until it hit the red head what exactly Naruto had said. The entire process of Gaara's thoughts were relatively short, so Naruto didn't have to wait long for Gaara's reply. Which surprised them both.

Gaara leaned over and softly kissed Naruto. It was a first kiss for Gaara, yet Naruto couldn't tell, as their mouths softly caressed one another's, Naruto slowly brought his arms up and held Gaara against him, successfully capturing the red head in his arms. Unwilling now to let him go, his hormones kicked in and they both slid down to the grass, Gaara fully under Naruto. Their bodies pressed intimately against one another.

Feeling slightly brave, Gaara reached up and pulled Naruto's face even closer, deepening the kiss. When Naruto's tongue traced his lips a shiver went through his body radiating to Naruto. Hesitantly, Gaara parted his lips and allowed the tongue to explore his virgin mouth.

Readjusting himself, Naruto reached down and started to caress Gaara's slender hips, feeling all the while that he must be dreaming, that Gaara would allow him to touch him in these places was like drinking a eight ounce shot of vodka straight, it went to his head and made him dizzy. Naruto was slowly regaining his composure when a voice from behind them interrupted the moment.

"It's about time, you two took forever."

Looking over, Naruto saw Temari, groaning, he slowly pulled away from the red head as she approached.

"We just got a call from a girl in Massachusetts. She claims that her new house is haunted," Temari said, "Its probably something from the Salem Witch Hunt."

"All the way back then?" Naruto was intrigued.

"Yeah." Temari said, "She wouldn't give much detail other than the fact that she is staying at her neighbors place for the time being."

"Where exactly in Massachusetts?" Gaara inquired.

"Worcester, I think that's what she said," Temari helped both Gaara and Naruto stand up, "She is going to call back in twenty minutes to talk to you."

"That's where the Spider Gates are." Gaara mumbled to himself.

"Spider gates?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, it is suppose to be haunted." Gaara was saying, "I would love to check it out and see if it really is."

"My brother, always looking for trouble." Temari sighed.

"I wanna go too." Naruto grinned.

Gaara smiled and looked over at the blond, "Sure!"

"Count me out." Temari said as they went into the house.

"So we are going to Massachusetts?" Naruto felt the excitement build up within him at the prospect of finally having a possible haunting that involved witch's that had been wrongly accused that were haunting a home.

"It sounds like it." Gaara smiled despite himself.

"So you decided already?" Kankuro asked as they all headed in to the library. Kankuro was sitting at the desk writing on a piece of paper and had looked up as Gaara, Temari and Naruto entered.

"I have always wanted to go to Massachusetts." Gaara said as he sat down in a wing back chair, "And this just gives me the chance to go."

Kankuro laughed at how Gaara was holding his excitement in, "Well, do you mind if I stay here? Naruto or Shikamaru can do what I do and this way I can stay here in case anyone calls needing a ghost buster." he too had picked up on the term ghost buster that Shikamaru still used. His statement though slightly confused Naruto, the blond had assumed that he was wanting a new case as well, goes to show how wrong Naruto could be in his assumptions.

Gaara also looked at Kankuro like he was betrayed. "If that is what you want…"

"Don't give me the guilt trip Gaara, please." Kankuro said, "You know that you can't work good with too many people around, and someone needs to stay here and manage things while you are gone."

"Temari can do that," Gaara said.

"Yeah, I wanted to stay anyway." she agreed, "Shikamaru and I agreed we would be the ones to stay here."

"So it would be you, me and Naruto." Gaara said to Kankuro.

Kankuro looked towards his sister questioningly, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah I am sure," she snorted at his question, "If it was up to you to look after things here, then we would have some major repairs when we got back. No offense Kankuro, you are great at what you do, you are just not a secretary."

This time it was Kankuro that snorted, "You got that right. Well that lady said she would call back soon to talk to you." he handed the cell phone to Gaara. "Give you all the details."

Gaara took it and was about to put it in his jacket when it rang. "Suna Psychic Puppets, how may I help you today?"

"My name is Ino, I just bought a house with my girlfriend and it seems to be haunted."

"Can you give me the details?" Gaara asked politely.

The girl on the other end of the phone sighed, before saying, "We bought the house about a month ago, it was a bargain, within our price range, and Sakura and I planed on having a respite home for the families that had terminal illness so that the ill person could be looked after while it gave the family a break. Sakura is a nurse and I am a Clinical Nurse aide. Well when we moved in everything seemed fine until about two weeks ago, right before we had decided to open for business. Things started to happen, not just minor things, stuff that would wake us up in the night screaming. Sometimes we could smell this really foul odor coming from the bath room, and there are stains on the walls and floor that were not there before. Our new neighbor is the guy that told us the history and he is letting us stay with him along with the guy that had originally owned the place."

"So what did he say happened?"

"Well that is just it, the place used to be a boarding house, one of the tenants went crazy and killed everyone, she nearly killed him too, he barely escaped. Lee, that is the guy that used to own it, well technically it was his mom, he said he had refused to go back to it, wouldn't even step inside, and Gai, he is the neighbor, told us that the crew that he had hired to clean up after the investigation was over had problems, he wouldn't tell us what though." her voice started to waiver as if she was getting scared just thinking about it. "When we looked around, we noticed how some of the stains that began showing up seemed like some ancient symbols that just sent shivers down my body."

"Where were these symbols at in the house?"

"Various rooms." her voice got husky with emotion.

"How long ago did all this happen?"

"Gai told us that it was June of 2007."

"So roughly four years ago, the house had been empty that entire time?"

"Yeah, why the hell do you think we got such a good deal for it?" her voice was now near hysteria, "Sakura said we should stay in Boston, but no I wanted this house…"

Gaara was silent for a moment to allow the girl to calm down somewhat. "I think I should go there and help you out." he finally said.

"Can it be fixed?" she sounded hopeful now.

"Most likely," he hesitatingly said, something told him that this would indeed be a very difficult case to 'fix', however he kept quiet about it, "I will have to see for myself before I can say for sure."

"Great, how many should I reserve for a flight then? We can pick you up in Boston."

Making the arrangements with her, Gaara was almost ready to say that Naruto couldn't go, something told him that Naruto would be better off staying, he didn't say anything though due to the hopeful looks Kankuro and Naruto shared between them. He would just have to protect Naruto himself.

"So when do we leave?" Kankuro was first to ask when Gaara hung the phone up.

"Tomorrow morning at ten, we leave from Denver to Boston." Gaara heaved a sigh and covered his eyes with his hand.

_**A/N: So here is chapter one of Deliver Us to Evil, please let me know what you think of it, also the fact that I had Naruto and Gaara kiss was the first step in their relationship which will go slow, yet it has now begun, they now know what the other thinks now at least.**_


	2. Blood Red Skies

_**Disclaimer:**__** I promise that I am not the creator of Naruto, that would be Masashi Kishimoto, so if you think that it is me, all I ask is one thing… in the manga or the anime, is Naruto and Gaara a couple? (OK… in my dreams and musings they are)**_

_**A/N: **__This story is more complex than the other (Evil Shadows) you don't need to have read that one to be able to read this one, though it does help, so as a result, the updates are going to take longer, and no, I am not the type of person that is going to hold the story hostage, I just like to do some research before I post. Something I was taught in journalism class… Anyway, on with the story… Oh yeah, also I wish to thank the people that review, fave., or alert the story. It warms this cold heart of mine. This story is dedicated to Slipknotgirl14, I hope this chapter is up to your expectations! TY so much for the sugar BTW!_

**Deliver Us To Evil**

_**Chapter two: Blood Red Skies**_

_As the sun goes down, I move around  
__Keeping to the shadows  
__Life, hangs by a thread  
__And I've heard it said, that I'll not see tomorrow  
__If that's my destiny, it'll have to be  
__So I'll face the future  
__Running out of time_

_**-Judas Priest: Blood Red Skies-**_

Naruto slept for most of the flight to Boston, he had been to Boston a few times with Jiraiya years ago, so when they landed at the airport he was the only one that was not lost. Baggage claim was the only problem, one of the bags that Naruto had brought went missing and so they had to report it and hope it was found.

The long haired blond that held a sign for Gaara was Ino, after the introductions, she led them to a old car from the seventies. To Naruto and Kankuro's delight it was a old Charger. Both were impressed that Ino knew how to appreciate a classic car the way she did.

Not much talking was done on the way to Worchester, other than a little background info on Ino and Sakura. They had met over five years ago and instantly hit it off, the only problem was, was that Sakura was in a relationship already and Ino had to nearly steal her away.

Naruto wanted to know about this house that they bought, Gaara though refused to talk about it till they were there, he said that he wanted to get a 'feel' for the place.

As the car pulled up in front of a modest home next to a large sprawling old home, Naruto couldn't help his eyes from going towards the old brick home that seemed to cause a shudder to go through his body as he got out of the car. "Is that it?" Gaara asked from next to him.

Ino nodded her head, and the four of them stood next to the car staring over at the house that seemed to be staring back at them. Naruto shook it off though as only his imagination.

"It is creepy." Kankuro softly said, it was as if the house could hear them. That was the impression that they all got.

The wind picked up, causing Ino's long locks to whip Naruto on the cheek. She was standing next to him and smiled slightly at him, "I am sorry, I should have put my hair back, I just forgot." she was saying as she pulled out a plain rubber band and tied her hair loosely on top of her head.

"Ino…" a voice called towards them from the house they were at, standing on the porch was a girl with pink hair waving nervously at them.

Turning, Ino motioned for the others to follow, "This way, Sakura and Gai are waiting for us. Lee is at work, he should be home later tonight." At the top of the stairs, Ino lightly kissed the pink headed girl before saying, "Sakura, this is Gaara, Kankuro and Naruto."

Gaara only nodded his head at the girl, Kankuro shook hands and Naruto smiled pleasantly, as he shook the girls hand.

"Are you hungry?" she asked as they headed into the house, hope filled her voice as if them eating could delay the inevitable discussion that would soon occur concerning the reason they were here.

Gaara didn't say anything, Kankuro politely declined and Naruto just shook his head no. A moment of trepidation filtered over her face before being replaced with resolve. Slowly she nodded her head, pink hair bobbing up and down as she did so.

Once they met Gai, who made Naruto think of a bush due to his eyebrows, they all sat down at the kitchen table.

"Now tell me everything about the house." Gaara said before pleasantries could be spoken. Reminding everyone that they were here to work and not socialize.

Gai gulped, he glanced over at the pink haired girl who was nervously twisting her ring on her finger. "It all started in 07," he said, "I woke up late at night, if I remember correctly it was around two in the morning. I don't know what woke me up, something did, anyway I came downstairs to get some water, normally I get it in my bathroom, this time though I came downstairs. Well, I looked out the window and noticed all the lights were on next door."

"All the lights?" Kankuro wanted to know as he was writing in a journal.

"Every single light, even the lights in the attic and on the porch."

"What happened then?" Gaara prodded Gai to continue.

Gai looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, he closed his eyes and seemed to try to speak, yet no sound came from his mouth. Everyone waited for him to speak, after what seemed to be a long time, he opened his eyes and said, "I have not even told this to the girls, that night, when I looked at the house, I saw a young woman, she was beautiful, and at first I thought she had to be a angel, never realizing that she was a angel, angel of death."

Naruto could see it all in his mind as Gai spoke.

"As I looked at her, I noticed that she seemed to be wearing red paint and nothing more, then she seemed to look right at me, as if she could see me too. I know it sounds crazy, yet I think she did see me. Her bathed in all that light from the house, me standing right there at the kitchen window looking up at her, in total darkness." Gai indicated over to the large kitchen window that looked over at the house that seemed to be silently watching them. "I ran through the house then and made sure the house was locked, I don't know why, I just felt the need to do it. Once I was secure in the fact that the house was locked, I headed back upstairs, at the top of the stairs, I heard the glass in the back door shatter."

A shiver at his words went through Naruto, he didn't know why, he just felt as if he were there too.

"I went into my room as quietly as I could, locking the door behind me, got my cell phone and dialed 911." Gai was silent for over a minute as he recalled those moments so long ago, finally he said, "I could hear her moving around in the house, she was calling for me to come play with her and that she wouldn't hurt me. I stood next to the door, and I could tell that she was just on the other side when the sirens of the cops approaching the house alerted her. I was so tempted to go out to her, something about her voice was soothing and lulled me, I thought maybe I had made a mistake in calling the police. But as the sirens got closer, I could feel the anger through the door, then of all things she laughed, it was a hysterical laugh that sent shivers through me. That was when I realized that I had made the right decision."

Naruto could see the goose bumps on the older man's arms and looked down at his own arms that were getting goose bumps as well. "So she got arrested?" Naruto asked.

Gai looked at him and slowly nodded, "When I came out, I saw her fully and a fear so intense gripped my heart that I could barely breath. What I had assumed to be paint, was blood, she was covered in it."

"So what happened to her after?" Kankuro was jotting still in a notebook.

"She is still alive, she is institutionalized in a asylum."

"So why is our house haunted then?" Ino spoke up.

"When they went there, the cops discovered that she had killed twenty four people. The newspapers said that she had used their blood to place different symbols in the house, satanic symbols." Gai softly replied.

"Binding the dead souls to the house." Gaara said almost as if to himself. "Opening up a portal for a demon."

"So our house is demonically haunted?" Sakura's voice was near hysteria. Her eyes were franticly going back and forth from Gaara to Gai, to the window that showed them all the house. "What can be done about that?"

Gaara was silent, he seemed to be weighing his words before speaking, when he did speak, all eyes were focused on him, "I have to go to the house and see for myself if anything can be done." He glanced at the two girls and asked, "What is it that you two experienced?"

Tears formed in Sakura's eyes and Ino absently patted her hand before saying, "To begin with nothing happened, we lived there for about a month, deciding on how to redecorate, once we started though little things would happen, stuff would come up missing, at night the lights would turn on and off. What did Sakura in was one night a hand touched her, we couldn't see it, she felt it though and I saw the mark it left, for a week a hand print was burned into her back. The entire time, Gai and Lee urged us to move. We explained to them that we had nowhere else to go, all our money was tied up in that house, all our dreams…" Her voice faltered and she was visibly shaken.

This time it was Sakura that said, "About a week after my back healed, we were woken up through the night to a single scream, neither one of us knew what had happened, so we went through the house, thinking someone had broken in, we couldn't find anything so we headed back to the room, all over in the room were these strange symbols, I tried all night to clean them," tears were freely falling down her face now, "Ino said that we needed to contact a spirit cleanser, that's what she called it. I just couldn't stop trying to wipe the symbols off the walls."

"Are they still there?" Gaara asked, fully intrigued now.

Both girls nodded their heads.

"How long ago was this?"

"A little over two weeks ago." Ino admitted.

"So why did it take so long to contact us?" Kankuro seemed to be upset.

"We hired others," Ino said almost ashamed, "Whenever they would go into the house, they would only stay for short times and then come back and say that there was nothing to be done."

Gaara nodded, not at all upset. "I want to go into the house now. You all don't need to, just me and my crew."

Naruto nearly balked, for some reason he did not want to go into that house. Just looking at it made him feel disjointed, going into the devils lair was not something that Naruto wanted to do, he didn't say anything though, after all, he was here to help Gaara in any way that he could. He also knew that Gaara would not let any real harm come to him, so he grinned and stood up as Gaara and Kankuro stood.

Ino reached into her pocket and pulled out a key ring that had a pink heart key chain, Naruto realized that it symbolized the pink haired girl's heart. "All the keys to the house are on here. Please be careful, will you?"

Gaara solemnly took the keys and nodded his head.

"We will have dinner ready for you around seven." Gai said as he walked them out the door. "Also the spare room is ready for you too."

"No need for that," Gaara said, "We can stay in the house." Gaara indicated the one that was within sight.

Kankuro looked mildly alarmed, he kept his mouth shut though. Naruto stepped closer to Gaara though, and seemed to take some small comfort from the nearness of the red head.

Naruto could feel the eyes of the three that watched them as they made their way to the house. With each step, something within Naruto was trying to tug him back, ignoring it, he kept pace with the other two.

The red brick seemed to mock them, on the front of the house was a thin layer of ivy that clung to the faded brick, the wide covered front porch seemed inviting, yet the shadows were ominous. It seemed like static filled the afternoon air as they stepped up the three cement steps. The swing on the porch was moving slightly, even though there was now no breeze in the air. A hint of jasmine mingled with mint, permeated the air, nearly stinging Naruto's nostrils as he inhaled.

At the front door, Gaara glanced at his two companions as he reached out for the doorknob, key in hand. "Are you two ready?"

"As ready as we ever will be." Kankuro mumbled quietly.

Absently Naruto nodded his head in agreement, he didn't know what to expect, if it was going to be like what it had been in his home or what. Once Gaara opened the door, a foul smell assaulted them, it was a combination of something rotting mixed with the smell of sulfur. Nearly gagging, Naruto put his hand up to his nose.

"What's the matter?" Kankuro looked at him. He seemed to be breathing normally, as was Gaara.

"Don't you guys smell that?" Naruto asked.

"Smell what?" Kankuro was confused.

Gaara looked intently at Naruto and asked, "What exactly do you smell?"

Naruto looked at both of them, was he just imagining the smell? They didn't seem to smell anything. "It smells like something rotting, with a hint of sulfur on top of it."

Gaara nodded his head, Kankuro looked at him like he was crazy, "How strong is the smell?" Gaara asked.

"Like its in this room." Naruto said, they were standing in the two story foyer that led into the house, he glanced around and nodded his head. "Yeah, like its in this room."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and walked away, not knowing where this conversation was heading. Gaara looked thoughtful for a moment before leading the way deeper into the house.

Naruto followed glancing around as he did so. The rooms were dark, even though the drapes were open, no light really seemed to enter. The décor was tasteful, soothing even. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the house until they went upstairs, the banister going up the stairs was stained, not naturally, it seemed to be splatters of dried blood. At the top of the stairs the symbols were on the walls. The second floor had five bedrooms, and three bathrooms, the third floor had six bedrooms and four bath rooms, the attic even had two bedrooms a bath room and a little sitting room with a kitchenette. That was the part that looked like the girls had planned on living in. it had personal touches of them along with personal belongings.

"We will stay up here." Gaara said as he sat down on the sofa. "Naruto, do you still smell that smell?"

As soon as they had left the first floor, it had dissipated, "No." he honestly said, "So what do you think it was Gaara?"

Gaara looked thoughtful as Naruto and Kankuro both sat down also so they could discuss things.

"It could be any number of things." he said finally. "I don't really want to speculate on it right now." he didn't want to startle Naruto, Gaara was once more regretting his decision on letting Naruto come with him, he hoped that he would be able to keep the young blond safe if it was needed. The way that Naruto was getting the smell in the house though didn't bode well for him, to Gaara it made him think of the smell of hell. Why was Naruto getting that smell and not him? Was Naruto psychic too, and just didn't realize it?

"So what about this house?" Kankuro asked, "Is it a demonic haunting?"

Gaara's eyes clouded over, not revealing any emotion, slowly he nodded his head, "It seems to be."

"What can be done about it?" Naruto asked as Kankuro feverishly wrote in his journal.

"We need to get rid of the evil," Gaara sighed, "It is a good thing that we can interview the girl that released the evil, we need to see where her mind set is."

"It's in hell…" Kankuro muttered to himself.

Naruto laughed, despite the situation, Gaara even smiled and nodded his head as he continued, "You might be right on that Kankuro. Once we figure out her frame of mind, then I can try to get rid of the demon, however the spirits that the girl killed are bound to this house now too, and if I do things wrong, they will be cast into hell too, and I don't want that."

"So first thing is to get rid of the demon that is in this house?" Naruto nodded his head. "What if we can't? What then? Do you have a plan B?"

"Run like hell…" Kankuro muttered.

"Pray to whatever being you believe in that we can get the demon out." Gaara ignored Kankuro's comment.

"It's getting late Gaara," Kankuro said, "Maybe we should go back for now."

"You are just hungry." Gaara mumbled as he reluctantly stood up while Kankuro and Naruto nearly flew out of their seats in their rush to leave the house.

This time when they went through the first floor, Naruto did not smell anything weird. "Strange…" he commented to Gaara as they headed for the front door. "The smell is gone."

"Isn't that good?" Kankuro asked.

"I guess so." Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

Gaara looked thoughtful as he opened the door.

Out on the porch, Naruto looked up at the setting sun and gasped. Instead of being soft colors, the sunset was blood red, and it seemed to be directed at the house. A slight chill went through Naruto as he gazed up at the blood red sky, it seemed to be a foreboding of things to come.


	3. I Will Protect You

**Disclaimer: I own nothing… other than my imagination.**

**A/N:**_ Sorry for the long update, a death in the family… Well thank you to all that reviewed, if I did not reply to your review. I am deeply and truly sorry, I have been a little preoccupied and concerned about different things. Once more this story is for Slipknotgirl14... Enjoy!_

**Deliver Us to Evil**

**Chapter three: I Will Protect You**

_Whatcha gonna do  
Whatcha gonna feel  
When suddenly I slip away?_

Almost am a ghost  
Of who I used to be  
Yesterday

How you gonna touch  
And how will you collect  
The beauty when it turns to dust?

_**-Korn: I will Protect You-**_

"Naruto," Gaara called for him at the bottom of the porch steps, "Aren't you coming?"

Naruto shook his head and hurriedly followed, keeping quiet as they walked back to the other house for dinner. It felt as if the skin on the back of his neck were crawling and he could feel the intense gaze of something evil behind him. As they crossed over to Gai's yard though, Naruto did look back and briefly caught a glimpse of a face before vanishing from the front window.

"So what do you think?" Kankuro asked Naruto.

Naruto looked over at the two siblings and shrugged his shoulders, "What do I think about what?"

Kankuro sighed and Gaara looked concerned. "Us staying here instead of at that house." Kankuro said, "Where is your mind at Naruto?"

"Whatever," Naruto mumbled, "I was just thinking we should give Shikamaru and Temari a call and let them know we made it safely." he easily lied.

Gaara nodded his head and said, "Tonight then we will stay here, first thing in the morning though we need to move into that house Kankuro."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and nodded his head.

Sakura was standing on the porch waiting for them when they got there, "I was beginning to worry…" she absently scanned all of them to check for any marks or bruising.

Nervously, Naruto smiled at the pretty girl and stepped into the house. She seemed to be the motherly type, and it sort of made Naruto uncomfortable. No one had ever truly mothered him since his parents had died all those years earlier.

"Sakura," Ino was saying as they all entered the house, "I told you they would be fine. Now lets let them be, they need to be able to breath."

Sakura nodded her head and went back into the kitchen where the smell of fried chicken was wafting out to them.

"I hope you all like chicken." Gai said as he indicated that they all sit down in his living room. "Lee!" he called up the stairs, "They are here now."

A bundle of energy seemed to bound down the stairs two at a time. "So good of you all to make it." he said after the introductions were over.

"So it was your place?" Kankuro asked as he started to once more scribble in his journal.

The dark headed, bushy eyebrow young man nodded his head, momentarily looking solemn. "My mother ran it as a boarding house, it had been in my dad's family for years, then when all this happened and my mom was killed, I just couldn't bring myself to keep it, so after we hired a cleaning crew, I sold it."

"Who redecorated it?" Gaara asked.

"How did you know it was redecorated?" Lee seemed astonished.

"The echo of how it used to look kept showing through." Gaara said as if everyone would understand. When all eyes except for Kankuro looked at him like he had just grown a forked tongue, he elaborated by saying, "I can see the echo's of things sometimes. Its not perfect, yet it is there."

"Yeah," Kankuro added, "That was how it was at your place too Naruto."

"You don't actually see ghosts?" Naruto wanted to know.

"I do, its just that I also see echo's. I see echo's more often then I see entity's." Gaara sat down next to Naruto on the love seat and added for everyone else, "I only saw echo's in that house. Of how it used to look. It was as if something were shielding my eyes." When he said the last part, he glanced slightly at Naruto, as if it was something about the blond that had caused his predicament.

Naruto saw the way Gaara looked at him, and he also wondered if maybe it was due to him.

"So you didn't experience anything…" Sakura said slightly shakily from the doorway to the kitchen. "By the way, dinner is ready." her voice shook with suppressed emotion.

Kankuro was the first to jump up and head to the kitchen. They all sat around the table to a self serve fried chicken dinner.

Everything was delicious, Naruto thought that he had eaten at a fine restaurant it was that good. The talk at dinner was on small things, like the weather and funny antidotes that Gai and Lee shared about their past.

Butterflies began to flutter around in Naruto's stomach, he didn't know why, it just started, when he tried to pinpoint the cause all he came up with was his desire to go back home safely.

The only one that noticed his discomfort as they all ate some fresh apple pie, was Gaara. He kept looking over at Naruto to make sure the blond was ok.

After dinner, Sakura poured everyone some coffee and they were all silent for a moment before Gai asked what everyone wanted to know, "So what did you think about the house?"

Gaara looked at the older man and pondered how exactly he should reply, if he should be honest or coat the truth, he had always believed that honesty was the best policy. "I think it is possible to manage, it will take some research though. We all agreed that for tonight we would stay here if that is ok, and tomorrow we will move into the house." He glanced at Ino and Sakura and asked, "Do you mind if we stay in the attic?"

"Of course not," Ino replied.

"That was our area of the house." Sakura said, "Make yourselves at home there."

Gaara nodded and after a moment said, "In all I think it can be done, it might take a couple weeks though, like I was telling Naruto and Kankuro earlier, I don't want the souls that are bound to the house due to whatever ritual that girl did, to be sent to hell also. They need to move on, then I can concentrate on the demon."

"Wouldn't it be easier to get rid of the demon first?" Lee asked.

"It all depends on how tight she bound the souls to the house to summon the demon," Gaara was thoughtful, "I think that she wanted to summon the demon and command it, when you summon a demon though, it needs a host, a strong one that can handle the spiritual pressure it emits. I also sense that she didn't fully know what would happen once she summoned it and that is what is happening in the house. With all the spiritual pressure that is bound in that house, the demon is feeding on it and growing stronger."

"So," Kankuro spoke up, "if we can get rid of its food source we can weaken it."

"In theory." Gaara nodded his head.

Naruto looked at Gaara and recalled the time that Gaara had admitted that he had never encountered a demon before and hoped that Gaara would be strong enough to do so. If anything should happen to the red head due to the demon, Naruto feared that he would not be able to do anything. Kankuro was thinking the same thing, he too looked at Gaara, slightly worried, his journal long forgotten.

"Should we call Baki?" Kankuro's voice was barely above a whisper, however it seemed to echo in the cozy kitchen.

Gaara seemed to glare accusingly at his brother, the thought that he could handle this foremost in his mind. "No," Gaara said slightly bitterly, "He is busy with his own cases."

"Remember what he said." Kankuro sighed in exasperation.

Gaara was silent for a moment before he said, "I know what Baki said, I was the one that told you what he said. That only means that we need to be more careful."

Naruto watched Gaara, unsure weather he should side with Gaara or Kankuro. All he knew was that he wanted Gaara to be safe, if that meant having Baki come and help, then that was what he wanted.

The other four people in the room kept quiet as Kankuro sighed in exasperation, "If things get bad though Gaara, just promise that you will call Baki."

Gaara looked at Naruto for a moment then sighed, "Fine." he grudgingly said.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't like the fact that Gaara had been pressured into agreeing. "Well Gaara," he said, "I think that whatever you decide is going to be fine. I trust you."

Gaara smiled slightly at Naruto, "Thanks Naruto."

"So you think you might need help?" Gai asked.

"I don't know." Gaara honestly said, "This will be a first for me."

"If there is anything I can help with, just let me know." Gai took a swallow of his coffee then added as an afterthought, "In fact, I will help out no matter what."

"Yeah," Lee added, "Gai, has the power of youth, right Gai?"

Gai smiled at his young friend and nodded his head.

"Right now," Gaara said, "I just want to rest. Tomorrow we have a full day. Kankuro will you get the equipment ready?"

"Sure thing." Kankuro stood up and headed out to the car where there bags were, Ino following to help bring them in.

"Where should Naruto and I stay?" Gaara asked Gai.

"You two want to be together?" Gai asked.

"Yeah," Gaara said. "I like to protect him."

Naruto blushed as he stood up too. He liked how Gaara had said that, however when everyone smiled knowingly at them, he felt slightly awkward.

"Right this way." Gai led them up the stairs as Lee and Sakura waved good night to them.

The room that Gai showed them to was sparse, yet nice in its simplicity. "Here you go," Gai shut the blinds that looked out on the front yard, "The next room over is mine, then Lee and followed by Sakura and Ino. Your friend can stay in the guest room downstairs and at the end of the hall is a bathroom."

"Thank you." Gaara said as he sat on the double bed.

"Well then, good night." Gai said as he shut the door.

Sitting down next to Gaara, Naruto leaned into the red head and asked, "Do you really think we can handle it without Baki?"

Gaara put his arm around Naruto and nodded his head, "I hope so." A touch of determination and anticipation was in Gaara's tone of voice, making Naruto realize that Gaara wanted to be able to prove himself.

Naruto stood back up, he rummaged in his bags for his toiletries till he realized that they must have been in his missing bag, when Gaara realized, he handed Naruto his own and said, "Go on, I will shower after you."

"Thanks." Naruto smiled at him.

While Naruto was gone, Gaara contemplated how he should proceed, he didn't want to have to rely on Baki. As much as he respected the older man, Gaara wanted to prove to himself that he could handle the situation.

He knew that it would test his ability's as a psychic and he was prepared for that, he just wanted to be able to say he had done it after all was said and done.

Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed Temari. She was probably worried about him by now, this was the first time he and Kankuro were somewhere without her there too.

"Its about damn time you called." Temari said after she answered the phone.

Gaara apologized and told his sister everything he knew so far. She thought the same thing, that he should at least call Baki for his expertise in the situation. He was in the middle of explaining that if the time was needed, he would, when Naruto got back.

"I gotta go," Gaara said to his sister, "I will call you later." without waiting for her reply, Gaara hung the phone up.

"Was that Temari?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Gaara said as he got up to go shower himself. "She said the same thing Kankuro said."

With those words, Gaara left Naruto alone. Getting in bed, Naruto closed his eyes, in his mind though he could see all the rooms in that damn house. It must have been his imagination, cause soon he could smell that same foul odor. Rolling over onto his side, Naruto glanced at the bare wall.

They should put a few pictures in here at least, Naruto thought, trying to get his mind off that house. Maybe a scenic picture of the forest or a soothing one of the ocean hitting the shore… with these thoughts Naruto finally drifted off to sleep.

He was dreaming, he knew he was dreaming, yet he couldn't tell that to his heart which was beating a million miles a minute, it was beating so fast that Naruto felt for sure he would have a heart attack. In the dream he was walking in the hall at that house, ahead of him was something that felt evil, it made the hair on his arms tingle, it felt as if he were walking to his doom. Behind him, and just out of reach was Gaara, he didn't see the red head, yet he knew that Gaara was there.

Opening his mouth to speak, Naruto felt panic as no sound came out, something wet though slowly trickled down from his mouth, reaching up to wipe the spit away, he pulled his hand back and looked at it, instead of being wet with spit, his hand was wet with blood. Now that he realized it was blood coming from his mouth, he could taste it, slightly metallic and thick tasting, it left a bad taste in his mouth.

Panic started to seize his body, his hands continued to wipe at his mouth, trying in vain to remove the blood.

"Naruto."

The voice seemed to be a million miles away, he knew it was Gaara, yet he couldn't see him. Had he done something to Gaara? Was Gaara hurt due to him?

His mouth formed Gaara's name, however no voice was heard.

"Naruto, wake up." It was a command, one that he wanted desperately to heed, however all he could do was mouth Gaara's name.

When arms went around him, a calmness took over, replacing the vile smell and images. He knew that it was Gaara holding him and trying to sooth him, and slowly he relaxed his body and fell into a deep sleep.

Gaara continued holding Naruto as the blond rested, this would be hard on him, not for the sake of anything other than Naruto was somehow being targeted by the demon. If need be he would call Baki. Anything to protect Naruto.

"I will protect you, Naruto. No matter what else, nothing will hurt you, I promise." Gaara said while smoothing the blonde's hair away from his face, and hoping he could keep that promise.


	4. Prelude to Agony

_**Generic Disclaimer... Don't own, don't sue.  
**__**A/N:** So sorry it has been forever since I uploaded any of my Naruto story's ... To put it simply, I have no real excuse other than life happened and then I lost my muse for them, now thankfully I have kidnapped a new muse so if their is any inconsistency please forgive me, I just don't want to leave these tales untold any more and hopefully you will enjoy my morbid tale a while longer. I am not going to promise anything other than I am still working on these. Please enjoy this story and if you leave a review, I will love you forever... Once more I apologize from the bottom of my heart._

* * *

Agony and Ecstasy;

Your cries of pain my pleasure,  
To know my machine internally,  
Your torment I treasure…

_**Prelude to Agony  
-Type o Negative-**_

Naruto woke up with an arm around his waist and feeling a slight warmth against his back, disoriented; he momentarily forgot where he was till his 'nightmare' returned to haunt him. What exactly had caused that last night, he wondered, why was it he had smelled that at Gai's pace of all places.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Gaara was still asleep, no worries though, it was still early after all; Naruto wished that he could just curl up and go back to sleep though and pretend that none of yesterday had happened though. He didn't want to stay anywhere near that house. It was something within him that was yelling and screaming at him to get the hell away from this place.

Gaara looked so peaceful when he was asleep, Naruto mused as he drowsily watched the red head, as if he had no care in the world. With a heavy heart, he turned away once more and wiggled out of the bed. He found his clothes and absently put them on while he still wished he could just go back to sleep and pretend that today didn't exist, as if looking at the sleeping man would make it seem even more real, he kept his eyes averted from Gaara so that for a few moments he could at least pretend. He knew that if he were to tell the siblings how he felt, they would somehow think less of him, so he left the room as silently as he could.

Heading down the carpeted stairs, he was pleased to smell the sweet aroma of freshly brewed coffee, Gai was sitting at the table slowly drinking a cup when Naruto walked into the large kitchen, it shocked the blond that the lithe man was looking towards the house that soon might just eat Naruto for lunch and not spit him back out.

"Morning," Naruto spoke as he entered the room, making Gai slightly jump and look at him instead of the house.

"Oh good morning Naruto," Gai smiled and Naruto thought that no one could smile that brightly upon first waking up in the morning. "Grab a cup of coffee if you like; cups are above the coffee pot there. So did you sleep well last night?"

Pouring a cup of black coffee, Naruto sat down on the chair across from Gai, as soon as he did so he wanted to move, he had a clear view of that house from where he was currently sitting. All he could really do at the moment was nod his head, wishing that he could look anywhere other than the house that seemed to pull his gaze in to it. In the early morning with the sun just rising, it looked like the red brick, even though it was slightly faded, was blood covering the home.

"I know it's creepy huh?" Gai spoke as he realized what Naruto was intently gazing at. "Before all the shit happened there, it wasn't so bad, the color seemed to glow; now though it just looks like blood stains all over the exterior in this early morning light. I really wish you all wouldn't stay in there, I have a bad feeling about it all."

Naruto could only nod his head, he didn't know why he couldn't look away from the place, the longer he looked the more it seemed as if blood was just oozing from every pore of the home, the light green of the ivy could no longer even be distinguished on the home. His heart was increasing and his breathing was growing more ragged, it was as if his body was running a marathon, only in his head though. His mouth was opening and closing as if trying to speak, it felt as if cotton were in it though and the cup of coffee in his hand was shaking so violently that hot coffee spilled from the cup down onto his other arm that was under the cup, even then he didn't move though.

His eyes seemed to lose focus and sound was muted slightly, as if he were under water. His body was still sitting at that damn table, yet he seemed to be drawing closer and closer to the house. He didn't know how long he just sat there in that position; it could have been days or mere seconds. An insistent hand was shaking his shoulder trying to bring him back; it was slightly irritating him and a low growl was emitted from his throat, that did the trick, the hand backed off of him as if he were hot coal and allowed him to once more focus on just that house.

Moments or had it been eon's later, another much more soft hand was lightly cupping his cheek and slowly moving his head away from the window. Blinking his eyes rapidly, Naruto focused on Gaara's sweet face and his entire body seemed to slump in the chair as he realized that the red head was scrutinizing his face with love and concern.

"Gaara…" Naruto softly said as his body leaned into the slighter one next to him.

Gaara wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck and held him tightly against his chest, he was slightly shaken up from how out of it Naruto had been. When Kankuro had barged into the room and literally dragged him out of bed ten minutes ago mumbling something about Naruto, Gaara had immediately known something bad was happening to the blond. It had taken all of Gaara's strength to pull him out of it, whatever 'it' was.

"Are you okay?" Kankuro asked while watching his younger brother comfort Naruto, it had shocked him when Gai had rushed into his room twenty minutes ago to wake him up saying that Naruto wasn't responding to anything and then the way that Naruto had growled at him when he had tried to shake him out of his stupor. Chills went through the dark haired man.

"I guess I'm still kind of tired huh?" Naruto blushed slightly as he rubbed the back of his head once he had pulled away from Gaara, he was still holding onto the red head, yet he had backed up enough to let Gaara sit down at the table next to him. Naruto looked around and saw Ino and Sakura all at the table too; Gai and Lee were standing in front of the coffee pot sipping coffee while silently observing Naruto.

Sakura softly smiled at the blond and said, "Naruto, I think it would be best if you stay here instead of in the house."

"No…" Naruto spoke up suddenly, for some reason he now wanted to stay in the house, "You can ask Shikamaru or Sasuke, they will tell you I have a habit of spacing out when I get tired or stressed out, and I am slightly tired, I never did handle cross country travel all that well…"

Gaara didn't know if he wanted Naruto to accompany him into that house now or make him stay with the four others and just have Kankuro stay with him. he did know that the best way to protect Naruto would be to keep him nearby at all times. So he would have Naruto stay with him, his own heart rate was slowly going back to normal as he realized that Naruto for the moment was okay. When Kankuro gave him a silent glare as if saying for him to call Baki, Gaara just shook his head as if saying not yet.

Kankuro rolled his eyes and got up so suddenly that the table shook as he left he tossed over his shoulder towards his younger brother, "I'm going to start taking the stuff over to the house, no fucking way though that I am going in there alone."

Gai pushed off from the counter and spoke up, "I'll help you out with it."

Lee also pushed off and placed his empty mug into the deep porcelain sink and said, "I'm going to work now, see you all this evening. I'll bring pizza home for supper okay?"

Sakura smiled at him and nodded her head, "Sounds good to me, make sure you have Italian Sausage on it this time though please."

"Pineapples for me…" Ino absently said as she rooted around in her small purse, pulling out twenty for the evening meal.

Naruto pulled out twenty too and slightly blushing asked, "Could you possibly get me a case of beer while you're at it? I think I need one about now."

Kankuro had heard that and grinned as he went through the kitchen on his way to the house, "I'll have some of that beer with you Naruto."

"Do you think it's wise that you two drink?" Gaara asked what the two ladies and Lee were both wondering.

Naruto grinned and nodded his head, "Yeah, before you got to my place Shika and I had a case and we were fine…"

"But your place wasn't demon possessed Naruto." Gaara stated, somewhat upset that Naruto felt the need for alcohol at the moment. it wasn't that Gaara didn't like a nice drink of beer like anyone else, especially with pizza, however right now wasn't too good of a time considering what had just happened to the blond.

"As long as you don't drink any Gaara," Naruto smiled reassuringly at Gaara, "I will be fine okay?"

Gaara wasn't too reassured; however he nodded his assent and watched as Lee left with the orders for the evening meal. Once the energetic man had left for work, Sakura got up and asked, "Anyone want any breakfast?"

At the mention of food, Naruto's stomach gave a soft rumble, he was always ready to eat it seemed like, no matter what he was going through.

"Before you feed him Sakura," Gaara said quietly, "I think we should go pack our things from last night."

Sakura nodded her head as the two of them left the room, Gaara holding onto Naruto's hand as if it were a lifeline. The short woman bit her bottom lip with concern over the both of them, something bad was coming and she didn't know what it was, or more accurately she didn't want to know what it was, and it was going to affect both Gaara and Naruto, possibly even them in this house that was so near yet so far from the house that Ino and her had bought so blindly.

By the time Gaara and Naruto returned, Kankuro and Gai had as well and a large platter of French toast was already piled on the table with butter and syrup nearby.

The meal was finished in strained silence; all eyes would occasionally drift towards Naruto as if making sure the blond was still in the present and not off in la-la land. Needless to say, Naruto was the first one to finish eating due to this and so he decided to do the cleanup in the kitchen so he wouldn't need to feel uncomfortable trying to not notice the looks the others lavished on him like he was some anomaly.

Doing the dishes, Naruto thought about the dream/vision he had the night before and realized it had been accompanied by that foul smell that he had when in the house, and earlier when he had zoned out he hadn't had that smell, so it was two different things that were currently happening to him and neither one he liked too much.

A warm hand on the small part of his back brought him back to his senses and he glanced over to see Gaara looking intently at him. "Are you going to be okay Naruto?" Gaara softly asked him.

Nodding his head, Naruto pulled away slightly to turn to face him, "Yeah I think so."

"I think we should head over there now." Gaara said with determination while still looking concerned for Naruto.

"Gaara," the pink haired girl spoke up, "I still think it would be best if Naruto stayed here."

Gaara was about to agree when Naruto grabbed Gaara's hand and headed out, "I will be fine everyone, don't you all go into a zone when you have a lot on your mind?" he asked everyone as he took Gaara out the back door, cutting through the yard over to the other yard.

Kankuro was right behind the two of them and asked, "So what was on your mind then Naruto?"

As he stepped on the invisible boundary in the yard separating Gai's place from the 'haunted' house; Naruto suppressed the shudder that traveled through him, he was loath to admit that nothing had been on his mind. "None of your business Kankuro, do I pester you when you are thinking about something?" he knew it was a rude tone, he just couldn't help it.

Gaara interrupted his brother and Naruto from a full blown argument by asking them both, "So is it just me or does the grass seem brittle and arid?"

All three of them paused and inspected the grass, it did seem that way, "Maybe no one has watered it lately?" Kankuro spoke up as he bent down to feel how easily it died. It was still green, yet it felt as if it were the deadest brown grass ever, even the green that it was though was duller than that of Gai's yard.

"I wonder how much rain has fallen here," Naruto too plucked a strand of grass within his thumb and forefinger to twirl it around, absently he placed the root into his mouth like he used to do as a kid and chewed on it to get the sweet taste of it; before he could even swallow it though, he spit. What had come out of the grass wasn't that sweet taste he was so familiar with; it had a slight metallic taste and once he spit he nearly gagged as it was a thick red liquid that came out mingled with his spit.


End file.
